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Large-team DITA vs. Small-team DITA: A Friendly Face-Off

After the monthly PDX DITA Book Club meeting on June 23rd, DITA enthusiasts met for the quarterly meeting to discuss using DITA in small teams versus in large teams.

Everyone took a turn talking about the benefits and challenges of their DITA teams. Most of our attendees work on small teams, but we still had great insights about life with large teams, too.

Let the friendly face-off begin!

Small-team DITA

Small teams are nimble and flexible and can respond to new information very quickly. Although there are less people to manage some important aspects of DITA, like content strategy, members of a small team get the opportunity to try a little of everything.

Small teams also get the chance to be problem solvers on a regular basis. On the other hand, if there is a problem, you are the one who needs to solve it. If you are on a small team (or a team of one), you may not have anyone to turn to with questions or for advice.

Small teams may not need a CMS…yet. Also, it might be more difficult for small teams to get resources, like a CMS. Kate’s team chose their company’s new flagship product for their first DITA project, to take advantage of the excitement around the new product to gain their company’s support for DITA.

Large-team DITA

Large teams often have enough people that different aspects of working with DITA can be delegated to different people. This may mean less diversity in the work that a member of large team performs.

Big teams need structure and policies, and they have enough people to provide that structure and make those policy decisions, such as which DITA elements to use and how to use them. But, with, large teams, these kind of decisions tend to be made at a slower pace.

It can be easier to onboard new writers in a large team because there are usually protocols already in place. In fact, Josh’s team has a help system just for their writers.

One of our members is finding out that, if your team grows because of acquisitions, you might find yourself with a large team made of a bunch of small teams. There might be a sweet spot for a DITA team, when your team is still small enough to be flexible and large enough to have considered DITA policies in place. What do you like best about being on a DITA team? Tell us in the comments!